Maetin j



MARTIN J. rnrrz, or M1'rojHnLL,1vEBnAsKn.

. GRAIN-DRILL norrnn.

Specification of Letters Patent. Patented June 3, 1 919.

Application filed December 12,1917. ser a noiaoavw. j

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, MARTIN J. Fnrrz, a citizen of the United States, residing at Mitchell, in the county of Scott Bluff and State of Nebraska, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Gram- Drill Hoppers; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

This'invention relates to gram drills, and

. especially to that class of grain drills provided with hoppers with outlets operatedby slides to permit of the dropping of the gram through openings in the bottoms of the hop- )ers.

1 The primary object of the invention is to provide improved economically constructed and simple and efficient mechanism whereby any one or more of a row of hoppers on a machine may be opened or closed at the W111 of the operator.

A further object of the invention is to provide a grain drill with means whereby an irregularly shaped field may be thoroughly seeded, notwithstanding its irregular bound aries, without any waste or loss of seed.

Further objects of the invention will appear hereinafter, and with the enumerated objects in view, the invention consists in the improved construction, arrangement and combination of parts hereinafter fully described and afterward specifically claimed.

In order that the construction and operation thereof may be readily comprehended, I have illustrated an approved embodiment of my invention in the accompanying drawing and will now proceed to specifically describe the same in connection with said drawing in which Figure 1 represents a horizontal sectional view of partof the hoppers of a grain drill constructed in accordance with my invention, taken on the plane indicated by the dotted lines 11 of Figs. 2 and 8, looking downward, the seat, seat support, and hop per slide operating rods, being shown in plan,

Fig. 2, a sectional view taken on a vertical plane cutting from front to rear through one of the hoppers as indicated by the dotted lines 2-2 of Figs. 1 and 3,

Fig 3, a view, iirfront elevation, of one of the hoppers, the adjacent parts being broken away, and 3 Fig. i, a diagrammatic view of a field narrowing at one side, showing a drill with a number of hoppers progressed partway through the field at the inclined boundary, showing the'hoppers beyond the boundary closed and those still inside'the boundary,

open. 4 r

Like reference characters indicate the same parts wherever they occur in a plurality ofthe figures of the drawing} Referring specifically to the drawing, 5 and 6 indicate two adjacent hoppers of a series consisting of any desired number, side by side, each of which is provided with a discharge opening, as at 7, in its bottom, and with a slide, as at 8, 9, projecting through the front of the hopper, each slide being adapted to close an opening of a hopper, as at 6, or open the opening of a hopper, as at 5, each opening having below it, if desired, a delivery spout, as'at 10.

Each slide is provided, adjacent to its projecting end, with an opening, as at 11, 12,

adapted to receive the hooked'end 13 of a rod 14, which, when engaged in the opening ,of a slide, projects rearwardly, as at 12, 111

Fig. 1, or 11, in Fig. 2, to a position within easy reach of the occupant of a seat supported, slidably or otherwise, as may be desired, on a bar 23 secured to the machine and projecting rearwardly of the hoppers.

On the front of the hoppers are guide flanges 15 and auxiliary guide flanges 16 to guide the hooked end 13 of the rod 14 into, or adjacent to, the opening of the hopper slide. These auxiliary flanges 16 also limit the outward movement of each slide.

In Fig. 4 is diagrammatically illustrated a field narrower at its end 17 than at its end 18, which, by the lines 19, is represented as having been partly seeded by a machine having a series of hoppers, which has partially passed over the inclined boundary 20.

When a' hopper reaches the inclined boundary, it is closed, so that no seed will be wasted outside the boundary, and this figure represents several hoppers 21 as having reached or passed the inclined boundary, and as being closed, while other hoppers, as at 22, are still on the field proper, and are shown as open, in which condition they will remain until each reaches the inclined boundary, when it will be closed.

To close a hopper for the described or any other purpose, it is only necessary for the occupant of the seat to directthe hooked end 13 of the rod 14 between the proper flanges 15 and press the same down, guided by the flanges 15, and finally by the auxiliary flanges 1-6, into the opening in the slide which it is desired to operate, 7

IVhile I have very specifically described the construction, operation or arrangement of the component parts {of my invention, I do not desire to confine myself to such specific details and ,hold that many slight changesand variations might be .madetherein without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.

Having thus fully described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is A grain drill hopper having a' discharge number of similar slide plates, and flanges projecting outwardly from said wall of the hopper at opposite sides of said extension and extending upwardly to receive said hooked end of the rod therebetween, and guide it downwardly to the aperture of said extension.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

MARTIN J. FRITZ.

Witnesses:

H. A, MoCArrnEE, B. E. SPENCER;

Copies of this patent rnay beohtai ned for fiveeents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D; 0. 

